Walk Around Wales - www.walk-around-wales.com

guide to corruption - working copy

public pages	definitions	additional info - pointers, questions etc.
	CORRUPTION CAMPAIGN	What campaign does the incident or event support. What is the stimulus for the event.
WHITEWASH	CORRUPTION DEFINITION
	PEOPLE	who are the people involved.
	CORRUPTION TYPE
	CORRUPTION TYPE - SUBDIRECTORY
	CORRUPTION TYPE - SPECIFIC
	ORGANISATIONS
	PEOPLE

	CORRUPTION / CRIME INDICATOR	Information that points toward potential corruption.
	CORRUPTION / CRIME INCIDENT	A single action/occurrence, the purpose of which is to support corruption.
	CORRUPTION / CRIME EVENT	An event such as a meeting, press release or letter etc the purpose of which is to support corruption.
	CORRUPTION / CRIME CAMPAIGN	An series of corruption events and incidents that are linked to the same group of public officials and subject matter.

	SYSTEM PURPOSE CORRUPTION	Where a regulation, rule or protocol is included in a system that is contrary to the purpose of the organisation. The classic example of this is Hitler's final solution. Please see below for a working example of this in Wales. EXAMPLE - WELSH GOVERNMENT CHILDREN'S PLAY POLICIES - CLICK HERE (new website www.a-better.wales)
	MORAL CORRUPTION	Where an official or group of officials deliberately fail to follow a government organisation's moral values, usually defined by an organisation as 'purpose' and 'values' and the staff 'code of conduct'. Nolan Principles.
	SYSTEM PHYSICAL CORRUPTION	Where an official deliberately fails to follow local, regional or national government rules.
	INFORMATION CORRUPTION	Where an official deliberately fabricates information, uses methods of deception or makes other corrupt actions with information while following government rules. EXAMPLE: RA DECEPTION - CLICK HERE
	CRIMINAL CORRUPTION	Where an official deliberately undertakes a UK Government common law criminal action in their position as a government official.

	CORRUPT PUBLIC OFFICIAL	A public official (appointed or elected) who deliberately makes an action (or fails to make a required action) that fails to observe the purpose, values or rules of the council. (potentially excluding moral exceptions)
EXAMPLE - 1990 ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION ACT BREACH - CLICK HERE	CORRUPTION COALITION	Where a person or group form an alliance to support corruption. EXAMPLE - PLANNING NOTICE - CLICK HERE

WHITEWASH

An attempt to stop people finding out the true facts about a situation. The biased presentation of data. (dictionary.cambridge.org)

SOURCE IMAGE - SOURCE LINK

	COVER-UP	An attempt to conceal evidence of wrongdoing.
20231111S-WBIF-blind-eye	COVER-UP (APATHETIC) (TURNING A BLIND EYE)	Example: A public official who knows that corruption exists and is in a position to report it in line with the Public Interest Disclosure Act 1988 but fails to do so.
	COVER-UP (PASSIVE/AGGRESSIVE)	An attempt to conceal evidence of wrongdoing through the failure to provide requested information, either through blocking, refusal and/or the ignoring of information requests.
	COVER-UP (ACTIVE)	An attempt to conceal evidence of wrongdoing with an action or actions in which a method of deception is used.
	COVER-UP (ACTIVE - COLLECTIVE)	An attempt to conceal evidence of wrongdoing as part of a collective action, for example voting on a motion known to cover-up corruption
	COVER-UP (ACTIVE - AGGRESSIVE)	An attempt to conceal evidence of wrongdoing with an action or actions that deliberately conceal evidence.
	COVER-UP (ACTIVE - AGGRESSIVE DEFENCE)	An attempt to conceal evidence of wrongdoing with an action that deliberately conceals evidence used as a defensive method (after being accused or identified as corrupt).
	COVER-UP (ACTIVE - AGGRESSIVE ATTACK)	An attempt to conceal evidence of wrongdoing with an action or actions that deliberately conceals evidence, undertaken on a voluntary basis as a method of attack.
	DISCREDITATION	To injure the credit or reputation of; defame: an effort to discredit honest politicians. to show to be undeserving of trust or belief; destroy confidence in: (google definition by www.dictionary.com - SOURCE IMAGE)
	LIP SERVICE SOURCE IMAGE SOURCE LINK	The action of agreeing with something but doing nothing to support it: (dictionary.cambridge.org)
	BACK-SCRATCHING SOURCE IMAGE SOURCE LINK	Reciprocal Altruism - The reciprocal provision of help or support, typically in an underhand or illicit manner.
	TRANSPARENCY SOURCE IMAGE SOURCE LINK	Transparency is operating in such a way that it is easy for others to see what actions are performed. Transparency implies openness, communication, and accountability.
20231111R-WBIF-inappropriate	INAPPROPRIATE REFERRAL	A corrupt official will make an inappropriate referral to a complaints process, legal avenue or other person/organisation to avoid having to do their job or to represent you as required by their status.

POTENTIAL CORRUPTION INDICATOR - DISORDER

With media backing, politicians are becoming bolder and are blatantly breaking rules in public, however this is not always the case and sometimes corruption is extremely difficult to detect. Quite often identifying a potential corruption indicator is the first step in tackling corruption. A potential corruption indicator is information that points toward potential corruption.

RELEVANT QUESTIONS & INFORMATION REQUESTS

CLICK HERE

If you ask a council official a question or request information and they avoid the question or refuse to give you an answer then this is a key indicator of corruption. Democratic Audit, an independent research unit looking into UK government democracy states that:

"For citizens to get involved in governing themselves and participating in politics, they must be able to find out easily what government agencies and other public bodies are doing."

If the council are stopping you from receiving information. This is a purposeful action, and this purpose is most likely to avoid accountability for corruption.

Asking a relevant question - CLICK HERE

We use the term official here to refer to a paid (employee) or unpaid member (volunteer) of the council staff or a paid or unpaid elected official such as a councillor.

TYPES OF CORRUPTION

We believe that government corruption can be split into the following generic categories: